Smooth 95.3 (call sign: 2PTV) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

based in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The station is owned by

Nova Entertainment NOVA Entertainment is an Australian entertainment company that operates commercial radio networks (and associated digital brands) in metropolitan and regional areas of Australia. NOVA Entertainment is owned by Lachlan Murdoch's Illyria Pty Lt ...

along with sister station Nova 96.9 and currently plays

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

songs from the late-1950s/early-1960s to the present with a 55+ year span.

History

In contrast to

's other Australian radio brand, the pop/rock Nova network, Smooth 95.3 (originally named Vega and Classic Rock) was originally positioned to target the baby boomer market of listeners in the 40 to 60 age bracket, with a mix of talk and music from the 1960s to the 2000s. This changed in 2006 when it moved to a music position, scrapping the talk content. Smooth 95.3's major rivals in the Sydney market are 101.7 WSFM, KIIS 106.5 and

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 45 radio stations with flagship stations broadcasting a mainstream/classic rock music format in Sydney, Melbourne, and B ...

. During its first

AC Nielsen NIQ (also known as NielsenIQ, formerly known as ACNielsen or AC Nielsen) is a global marketing research firm, with worldwide headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The company has approximately 30,000 employees and operates in more ...

ratings survey (No. 8, 2005, covering mid-September to November of that year), Vega 95.3 had failed to attract a significant audience, with a 1.8 percent audience share. However, station management stated that the slow take-up was to be expected, claiming the target audience would be slower than some audience groups to try a new station. In June 200

the station dropped its "40 years of music" slogan and moved drive-time hosts

Rebecca Wilson Rebecca Louise Wilson (22 December 1961 – 7 October 2016) was an Australian sports journalist, radio and television broadcaster and personality, known for the comic television talk sports show '' The Fat'', in which she appeared regularly wit ...

and

Tony Squires Tony Squires (born 22 June 1961) is an Australian media personality of radio and television and published author. He is perhaps best known as the presenter of the comic sport news show '' The Fat'', which ran on ABC television from 2000 to 20 ...

to share the breakfast slot with

Angela Catterns Angela Catterns, (born 30 September 1953) is an Australian media personality and broadcaster. Mostly known for her work on Australian radio, she has presented Mornings on Triple J, the National Evening Show on ABC Local Radio, and Breakfast on ...

. The changes were slow in growing market share, with the audience falling to 1.7% (No. 6, 2006). By the end of 2006, Vega 95.3 had reached their ratings peak to that time, reaching a 2.8% share. In January 2007, Vega 95.3 expanded its "Vega Variety" positioner to include "the 70s, 80s and the best new songs", and also put out advertisements in the form of billboards and on the side of buses, based around that expanded positioner. It was hoped that it would get more listeners to sample the station. In the first radio survey of 2007, Vega 95.3 had small increases, reaching 3%. Throughout 2007 and 2008, Vega 95.3 gradually grew its audience. In survey 7/2008, it finally shed its perennial position as the lowest rated commercial FM station in Sydney, passing Triple M. In survey 8/2008, its audience had increased to 5.7%. In its target age groups, it rated 4th commercial FM with 7.9% in the 25 to 39 bracket, 4th in 40 to 54 with 8.6%, and 5th in the 55+ bracket. On 12 March 2010, Vega 95.3 ceased transmission after just five years on air and the station was replaced with Classic Rock 95.3, which included (appropriately enough) a classic rock format. At exactly 7:00am on 21 May 2012, the station was relaunched as smoothfm 95.3 by

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Regarded as a pop icon, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American ...

as the first on-air announcer. In August 2015, smoothfm 95.3 was crowned the number-one FM station for the first time with an 8.2 share.

Announcers

* More Music Breakfast Show with Bogart Torelli * Ron Wilson * Ty Frost * Simon Diaz * Byron Webb *

Cameron Daddo Cameron Peter Daddo (born 7 March 1965) is an Australian actor, musician and presenter. From 1987 to 1988, he hosted dating game show ''Perfect Match (Australian game show), Perfect Match Australia''. He won two Logie Awards for his performanc ...

Melissa Doyle Melissa Jane Doyle (born 10 February 1970) is an Australian television presenter, author and journalist. She was previously co-host of the Seven Network's breakfast television program ''Sunrise'' from 2002 to 2013 alongside David Koch and h ...

* Richard Wilkins * David Campbell

References

*Nielsen Media Research (2005-12-06)
Survey Results: Sydney, Survey No. 8, 2005
. Retrieved on 2006-02-17.

External links

Official site
{{coord, 33, 52, 11, S, 151, 11, 25, E, display=title Easy listening radio stations in Australia Nova Entertainment Radio stations in Sydney Radio stations established in 2005 2005 establishments in Australia